Hiya. I'm excited for this story again. I can't wait until I get to the final little saga, it will be epic. At least I hope it will. Well, I need to write this chapter first, which will hopefully be just as good as the stuff I can't wait to get to, but must. Sorry for the bit of a wait on this one by the way, due dates for school work are annoying.

Chapter 27

Selim had no clue where he was by this point, and didn't care. There wasn't anybody outside to see him, so he just kept walking. He wasn't even cold anymore, the water having numbed him quite a while ago. There still wasn't any end in sight, and he had the feeling that this would be one of those rainstorms that lasted over a day long. Just his luck.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he was able to find a semi-covered area to hide in. Not caring about the mud or sticks, the black haired boy crawled underneath a wooden deck attached to someone's house. He had no clue who lived there, or anything, but it would do. Sure, water was still dripping steadily in through the cracks in between the boards, but it was better then sitting out in the open. Pulling his mud covered legs close to him, he desperately tried to get some feeling back into his borrowed body.

It wasn't much later that he'd fallen asleep, cold, wet, and utterly exhausted. Still alive though. He just had to keep reminding himself that. He was still alive, and he wasn't going to let anything change that.

When he'd woken up, he had no idea how much time had passed and he felt worse then ever. He was sore all over, his clothes were still soaked and he had dried mud covering his upper body, and he was sitting on the still soaked ground. The only good thing he could think of about this situation was that the rain had finally decided to stop.

Waiting for a few moments to make sure he couldn't hear anybody actually on the deck he was hiding under Selim started to crawl his way out. Looking around, it seemed to be the middle of the day, and everything still looked a little wet. He vaguely wondered what day it was, but decided quietly that it didn't really matter in the end, as long as he could keep himself safe until tomorrow. Just one day at a time.

Without any direction he started moving away from the house, trying once again to plan his next move. He couldn't seem to be able to get passed 'find the Elric brothers' without something terrible happening to distract him. Not today though, he'd actually get something, anything, done today.

He realized that he'd been gone for at least two days now, there was sure to be a public search for him, even worse then the first time, if that was even possible. He was taking a big risk just being out in the open like he was now, but how was he supposed to get anything done if he was hiding all the time. He'd just have to hope he looked absolutely pathetic and unrecognizable enough that no one would think a street vermin like him could possibly be one of the most powerful people in the world's son.

Reaching a small shop window, he looked in at his reflection, and suddenly the cleanliness he'd had during his small time at Pride's house was a far memory, and he really wouldn't be surprised if no one recognized him. He sure didn't.

The clean clothes he had been wearing were brown with mud and dingy from the rain, the same with any exposed skin. His black hair was matted down with wet and probably terribly knotted. His once shinny shoes were caked with mud, and full of water. What he didn't recognize most was his face though. It looked completely and utterly worn out. It wasn't as bad as if he'd had his normal body though. If he'd had that, he'd be dead by now, or at least cut up to the end and back.

Pulling himself away from his pathetic reflection, he started down the long street. It got more populated the farther he got, and he figured that he must be getting closer to the busier parts of Central. It wasn't the best place to be heading, but he found it hard to care anymore. He should, he had to keep himself alert in order to just survive but dang it, he was only nine years old! This was wearing on him. A lot.

"Pride… I'm tired," Selim said after a few moments, hoping that the sin inside him would respond. He did, in his same, arrogant way, but Selim was used to that by now, and it was much better then nothing. Anything would be better then nothing.

"You just woke up," the voice said, a slightly ticked off tone to the words, but Selim just shook his head. It was kind of amazing how you could walk around the streets talking to yourself and looking like a homeless wreak of a child, and no one would notice or care. People just didn't pay him any attention, which was what he wanted, he supposed.

"That's not what I mean… I just want to go home… and you want me out of your body. Please Pride, just help me! We both want the same thing in the end, why can't we get it without me dieing in the process… please?" Selim begged, and hoped beyond hope that Pride would say something, anything, that would be useful, or at least see what he was saying and try and do something that would set them on some path. After waiting for a few minutes with nothing but silence ringing through his head, Selim sighed, and started walking forwards again, unsure of when he'd even stopped.

"Fine… I'll do it myself, just like I have been this entire time," he mumbled, worn out but not about to stop now. No, he just needed a plan. Something to set him mind onto so that he could actually feel like he had something achievable to do.

"You could always break into the national library," Pride said, shocking Selim with how casual he'd said something that could possibly help him. He thought he wasn't going to. "I'm not. If you try and go there you could easily be captured and brought right back to father, it's your choice if you think it's worth the risk," the sin explained, and Selim guessed that made a little bit more sense, but it was still the most Pride had ever really done to actually aid him.

There could be something in the library. Sure, he was a complete amateur at alchemy, but maybe he could find something. If it even had anything to do with alchemy, but he was pretty sure it did, if the Elrics knew something. It's be dangerous, like Pride said, but right now he needed something to get him out of his mental rut. Plus, Ed was a state alchemist, he could very well be in the library.

"Okay, it's a plan then," Selim said quietly before heading into the direction he was almost positive the library was in. He could hear Pride scoffing in his head, but ignored it. What he said was true, they both wanted him to leave Pride's body, so why couldn't Pride help him while he was on the run. He didn't have to do anything that would cause him to betray his father or anything like that, he could leave that up to Selim himself, but if the human boy was able to find a way to fix everything, then it should be just as good as his father expelling his soul from his body, even better for Selim.

It wasn't long before Selim could see the national library from behind a building corner. He knew these parts of Central better, but he was also much, much more likely to be recognized here. Just getting to the library would be hard enough, let alone finding a way in. Shaking his head slightly, he decided to try and get at least a bit closer. He wasn't doing anything standing around staring at it.

Walking towards the back, he tried to find some sort of employee entrance or other obscure doorway. There were a few guards around in the back still though, so even when he found a blank looking back door, he couldn't just walk up to it and go in.

After maybe a half hour of waiting, hiding behind the low fence, the guard left. Not letting the chance slip away and another one come to take his place, the black haired boy sprinted across the small yard and to the door, hoping like crazy that it was actually open. If a guard, or anyone really came back and saw him, even if they didn't recognize him he'd be in trouble, looking like a dirty orphan trying to sneak inside.

For what seemed like the first time in forever life actually managed to catch him a bit of a break, the door opening without any sort of resistance, and he carefully slipped inside, closing it behind him before anyone returned.

It looked like some sort of storage room, but Selim wasn't able to get too much of a baring, barely able to see a few feet in front of him in the darkness, just managing to squint to be able an make out a few stacks of books close by. If he was attacked in here he wasn't sure if he'd even be able to defend himself with Pride's shadows. Putting his arms out hesitantly, he slowly started making his way forward in the dark.

After what felt like an eternity and completely freezing every time the ceiling above him would creak with the sound of someone walking around, the child finally reached a stairwell leading up. Slowly he started up the stairs, stopping at the top and placing an ear to the door. He couldn't hear anybody, but it was a library, they were suppose to be quiet. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself as he carefully cracked the door open just enough to peak out, and hope no one immediately saw him.

Glancing around, it actually seemed like the coast was clear, and he slipped through the crack, shutting the door behind him, before slowly sneaking off down one of the empty isles. Selim's entire body was on edge as he tiptoed around. If anyone saw him it was obvious that he wasn't suppose to be there, and it was hard to concentrate on trying to find something that would help him when he was flinching at every sound he made. Why couldn't be act all calm and collected now, like he was when he was standing face to face with people who wanted to capture and expel him to oblivion?

"Hey, are you suppose to be in here?" Selim felt his heart nearly stop at the sound of someone behind him, and acted before his brain could actually stop to think, his entire body was so high strung from waiting for exactly this to happen. He didn't turn to answer or try and think his way out of this, he just started running. "Hey! Get back here!" the person, from the sound of it a woman, yelled, but Selim wasn't about to stop.

This was a bad idea. He shouldn't of let Pride talk him into coming in here, even if he hadn't actually talked him into it, he really had just merely suggested the idea, he still shouldn't of done it.

"Ahh-mphhh!" Selim barely managed to yell out when someone picked him up out of no where, quickly covering his mouth so that he couldn't actually scream. He'd only managed to calm down slightly when whoever it was, he couldn't see from the way he was being held, whispered to him.

"Just relax, and don't let them get a good look at you," the man mumbled, and Selim stopped his immediate struggle, looking towards the floor in a pathetic attempt to do what he said, and just hoped that this was the person he thought it was, and not his mind playing a cruel joke on him.

"Hey! Sorry about that, I hadn't realized he'd followed me in here, Al was suppose to be watching him back at the hotel," the man said, and Selim tried to keep himself from getting overly excited at the mention of someone named Al. It seemed like he might have been passed the worst after all, maybe. Hopefully.

"Oh… you know this boy, Mr. Elric?" the librarian asked, and Ed nodded, keeping one arm on the child and scratching the back of his head with the other sheepishly.

"Yeah, he's the nephew of a close friend. We're watching him for the weekend. C'mon Tyler, let's get you back to Al," Ed said, and Selim just nodded and followed him towards the exit of the library, keeping his head down in entire time. Hopefully people would think he was just a kid ashamed that he had gotten caught and in trouble. "How'd you get so dirty, anyway?" the blonde man asked as they walked, and Selim just shrugged, not really sure what a reasonable explanation could be.

"Um… playing?" he said quietly, and soon the two were out of the library, and Ed started to walk a bit easier, although Selim was still on edge, trying to keep his joy as contained as possible. Something could still go wrong, just like last time.

After they were few blocks away from the library Edward stopped and turned toward him, a look of confusion and concern on his face. Selim felt bad for getting the brothers involved in his problems, but who else was he suppose to go to? Edward Elric was the hero of the people, he didn't know of any other alchemist who wouldn't immediately turn him back in to the government and his 'family.'

"Okay, what happened?" the older boy asked, and Selim sighed softly under his breath. Even though it hadn't actually been too long since he'd last seen the brothers, that question had quite an answer.

This was going to take a long time.

Whooo hooo. Done, and before the 30th, too. Yay. Finished my bio work early, so I had the chance to finish this chapter. Now I just have to do the same for everything else on my to do list.
Well, poor Selim has finally got a ray of sun shine in his bleak little run of luck. Good for him. Sorry if the beginning of this chapter wasn't the cheeriest, but things are starting to take a turn for the better. Or is it? (must remain ambiguous with my plot)
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and please review.